The Pope intends to take advantage of the appointment of his liege man [Card. Cañizares Llovera] to head the Congregation for Divine Worship in order to profoundly reorganise the Commission Ecclesia Dei, of which it so happens that Cardinal Cañizares is already a member. According to the rumor, which does not seem to be just a hallway rumour, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos who has long reached the age limit, would cede his post to his current second, a personal friend of Pope Ratzinger, Monsignor Camille Perl, who would be consecrated bishop for this reason. And the Commission would then be attached to the Congregation for Divine Worship, assuming, within the framework of one dicastery, the responsibility of the traditional form of the Roman rite, under the charge of Cardinal Cañizares. [...] This means in any case that the Commission Ecclesia Dei establishes itself in the ecclesiastical landscape. In addition, its anticipated director, Msgr Perl is certainly the man in Rome who best knows the traditionalist world, its ways, its outlines or its detours. He has the ear of the Pope for a long time. On more than one occasion his diplomacy has worked wonders.
Such an integration of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei into the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments would indeed be excellent for several reasons. It would clearly and unmistakably demonstrate, as the article mentions, that the usus antiquior is now a normal and regular part of the life and liturgy of the Church, attended to by a regular discastery of the Curia, and one of the most important at that, and not by a Special Commission named after a now obsolete indult. It makes sense that the curial authority charged with the Sacred Liturgy should have competence over both forms of the Roman Rite, not only because, once again, the Extraordinary Form is a living and regular part of the Sacred Liturgy, and not some isolated special interest concern, but also because, as we have seen, there are many questions which concern both forms, and where a seperate treatment of the same question can cause frictions. And the intgeration would also bring a number of curial officials experienced in the questions of the usus antiquior into the CDW, where still many officials have very little knowledge of it and are sometimes completely unaware of its content and rubrics. This, it might be hoped and expected, would greatly help the reform of the reform, since the liturgical tradition represented by the usus antiquior would become a daily presence within the Congregation. Nevertheless, this is as yet only a rumour, and should be treated as such.
